Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Ferocious wildfires were burning at emergency-level intensity across Australia's most populous state and into Sydney suburbs on Tuesday as authorities warned most people in their paths that there was no longer time to flee.

New South Wales state is under a weeklong state of emergency, a declaration that gives the Rural Fire Service sweeping powers to control resources and direct other government agencies in its efforts to battle fires. The worst fires on Tuesday emerged in the state's northeast, where three people have died and more than 150 homes have been destroyed since Friday.

A catastrophic fire warning was in place for Sydney, Australia's largest city, where a large blaze threatened homes on Tuesday afternoon in northern suburban Turramurra, 17 kilometres from the city's downtown area.

A firefighter suffered a fractured arm and ribs before the fire was rapidly contained with the aid of a jet dumping fire retardant and a helicopter dropping water, officials said. Turramurra residents reported trees catching fire in their backyards from embers.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said many people had heeded his warning and evacuated their homes in the danger zone well ahead of the escalating fire threat on Tuesday.

"We've got very tight, winding roads into a lot of these areas, which is why we talked about leaving early as the safest option," Fitzsimmons told reporters.

85 fires burning in New South Wales

"The last thing we want to do is be managing mass evacuations in pretty difficult to access areas and running the risk of having a whole bunch of congested roadways and seeing people incinerated in their cars," he added.

Of 85 fires burning across New South Wales, 14 were rated as emergencies and burning out of control by late afternoon, the Rural Fire Service said. That's the largest number across the state in decades apart from Friday, when an unprecedented 17 emergency fires blazed.

"It is too late to leave on most of these fires and sheltering is now your only option as fire approaches," Fitzsimmons said.

Kirby Ardis took Fitzsimmons' advice, driving her family from their home in the small town of Deepwater 42 kilometres to the larger centre of Glen Innes at about midday Tuesday.

'Better safe than sorry'
"With the winds, the embers are travelling many kilometres, so it's just not worth it," she said. "The general consensus is that people are just evacuating. Better safe than sorry."

Alison Johnson said she'd stay as long as she could in the village of Nana Glen to protect her business, the Idle In Cafe, from embers that can carry 30 kilometres ahead of the fire front.

"If one ember lands on it, it'll go up," Johnson said. "When you look above the paddock at the end of the street, you can see the smoke behind the tree line."

"The trees are a muted grey, shrouded in smoke. The first sign of a fire front and we'll be out," she added.

Hundreds of schools closed

Winds were reaching 80 km/h in some areas and were expected to gather pace as the day progresses. There were reports of potential destruction of homes south of the town of Taree near where a 63-year-old woman died in her home on Friday, Fitzsimmons said.

More than 600 schools and technical colleges were closed because they are close to woodlands at risk of fire.

The Australian fire season, which peaks during the Southern Hemisphere summer, has started early after an unusually warm and dry winter.

More than a million hectares of forest and farmland had already burned across the state this fire season, more than three times the 280,000 hectares that burned during all of last season.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/austra...ires-1.5356047

B00Mer

+2

#2

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Nov 13th, 2019

Those poor poor people who affected by this tragedy.

Blackleaf

#3

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

JEREMY CLARKSON Australia is Godís laboratory and people were not actually meant to live there

Comment
Jeremy Clarkson, Sun columnist
3 Jan 2020
The Sun

IíVE suspected for some time God didnít want people to live in Australia.

He created it as a continent far, far away where he could house all his experiments that had gone wrong.

Australia is burning and it is not safe Credit: Getty Images - Getty

It was his under-the-stairs cupboard for stuff he wanted to forget about.

Like, for instance, the saltwater crocodile. He designed it, built it then realised it was far too savage and bitey to live in, say, Milton Keynes.

Or the poisonous redback spider which likes to hide under lavatory seats so it can bite a manís penis when he sits down to do his number twos. No way could God have that living in Europe or the US.

He also made a lot of snakes. Some are very pretty and some are very impressive.

The poisonous Redback spider is one of Australia's horrors Credit: Alamy

But occasionally it all went wrong and he ended up with something that could kill a fully-grown man with one small bite. And again, these could not live in populated areas.

He needed a home for all these things, so he made Australia.

And to make sure people didnít go there, he put a huge coral reef on the approaches and filled the interior with a sea of sand that goes on for ever.

He even used this remote outpost to house some of his more ridiculous ideas. Stuff he came up with when he was drunk.

Like those birds that canít fly and that otter with a beak.

Then you have the kangaroo, which gets about by bouncing, and the koala, which is permanently stoned and catches chlamydia if anyone ever picks it up.

For millions of years, this big, sandy cupboard under the stairs went unnoticed.

But then along came Captain Cook and now the world knows all about Oz and its stupid, dangerous creatures.

Plainly, God is embarrassed. Because heís decided to set fire to it.

Itís been argued the fires raging across the country were caused by global warming or out-of-control barbies.

But when you look at the footage, you know something biblical is going on.

Those things are huge.

Skies have been turned red by the flames. Choking smoke is blanketing millions of acres.

Firefighters try to control the flames Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Thousands of homes have been obliterated. And people are dying.

This has happened before in recent years and thereís no doubt it will happen again.

Which means people must accept that Australia isnít meant for human habitation.

So if youíre reading this down there, please come home.

Youíll like it. It never stops raining. And we are better at sport.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/106680...to-live-there/

Serryah

+3

#4

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

I've a co-worker and friend who works with DNR in the summers (laid off for the season).

They're doing a second call for help from Canada; looking for 21 volunteers. If he was younger he said he'd go but he's up there in age.

They're looking at 12 hours days down there...

And with a possible loss of 500 million animals...

Gods help the land down there.

taxslave

+4

#5

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

The arsonists they have caught should be tied to a tree fight in front of the fireline.

AnnaEmber

+3

#6

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Sorry for the loss of lives, both humans and critters. Bad situation there.

AnnaEmber

+3

#7

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Blackleaf

JEREMY CLARKSON Australia is Godís laboratory and people were not actually meant to live there

lol Well, there were people living in Aus long before there were any in Europe and gods are nothing but "ifs and maybes".

AnnaEmber

+2

#8

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Serryah

I've a co-worker and friend who works with DNR in the summers (laid off for the season).

They're doing a second call for help from Canada; looking for 21 volunteers. If he was younger he said he'd go but he's up there in age.

They're looking at 12 hours days down there...

And with a possible loss of 500 million animals...

Gods help the land down there.

Yeah, hubby's too old now, too.

Serryah

+1

#9

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnaEmber

Yeah, hubby's too old now, too.

I told him if I were a firefighter I'd go too.

He said this round they're looking for guys all over the eastern side of Canada.

Twin_Moose

+1

#10

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Fly to Australia and volunteer, no matter age as long as you are fairly fit, they won't say no

Blackleaf

+1

#11

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnaEmber

lol Well, there were people living in Aus long before there were any in Europe

Now, now. Don't be silly.

Quote:

and gods are nothing but "ifs and maybes".

Wel it's a matter of one's own opinion.

Serryah

+3

#12

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Blackleaf

Now, now. Don't be silly.

She's not.

Australia was colonized before Europe.

65,000 years vs 45,000 years.

https://www.nature.com/articles/natu...ntent=deeplink

Also

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens

Interesting stuff really.

Serryah

#13

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Twin_Moose

Fly to Australia and volunteer, no matter age as long as you are fairly fit, they won't say no

You got a link that gives any volunteer information on that?

Twin_Moose

+1

#14

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Go to the local bar and have a beer you will get conscripted, it's a commonwealth law on fighting fires. A citation for no one will be turned down to fight forest fires, common sense will do.

Blackleaf

-1

#15

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Serryah

She's not.

Australia was colonized before Europe.

65,000 years vs 45,000 years.

https://www.nature.com/articles/natu...ntent=deeplink

Also

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens

Interesting stuff really.

Humanity started off in Europe, not Africa as is commonly believed.

Twin_Moose

+1

#16

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

The next time a fire is burning out of control in your forest go and volunteer, see if you get turned away?

Australia fires:Volunteer firefighters to receive compensation

taxslave

+1

#17

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Twin_Moose

Fly to Australia and volunteer, no matter age as long as you are fairly fit, they won't say no

Don't bet on it. Although there are certainly lots of help needed away from the fireline.BC hasn't allowed anyone on the fireline without SP100 for about two decades now, so I expect anyplace other than third world countries have similar rules.

taxslave

+1

#18

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 4th, 2020

I forgot it is not called SP100 anymore. Can't remember what they call it now.

Twin_Moose

+1

#19

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by taxslave

Don't bet on it. Although there are certainly lots of help needed away from the fireline.BC hasn't allowed anyone on the fireline without SP100 for about two decades now, so I expect anyplace other than third world countries have similar rules.

So the days of here is a piss pack kid put out anything that has smoke is over?

taxslave

+4

#20

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Twin_Moose

So the days of here is a piss pack kid put out anything that has smoke is over?

Yep. Too many people die that way. That was pretty much like two armies standing in rows on a field shooting at each other.

I expect a huge increase in respiratory illness In Australia after the fires are put out.
Last night we were at a structure fire and the weather conditions pushed the smoke onto the ground so bad you could hardly see. Still coughing and I never got within 200 ft of the fire.

petros

+3

#21

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Twin_Moose

Go to the local bar and have a beer you will get conscripted, it's a commonwealth law on fighting fires. A citation for no one will be turned down to fight forest fires, common sense will do.

Quote: Originally Posted by taxslave

Don't bet on it. Although there are certainly lots of help needed away from the fireline.BC hasn't allowed anyone on the fireline without SP100 for about two decades now, so I expect anyplace other than third world countries have similar rules.

Happened to me. Fight the fire or sit in the pokey until it's out. All I did was keep a pump running for 3 days. I did get paid tho.

Twin_Moose

+2

#22

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by petros

Happened to me. Fight the fire or sit in the pokey until it's out. All I did was keep a pump running for 3 days. I did get paid tho.

Me too the piss pack thing was true, I was 13, Dad was a fire scout, the fire was jumping a fire guard. As I was sitting in dad's truck waiting for him a fire fighter knocked on the window and said there is no sitting on the fire line Lol.

AnnaEmber

+1

#23

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Blackleaf

Now, now. Don't be silly.

Wel it's a matter of one's own opinion.

Wasn't me being silly. People actually were living in Aus for something like 20,000 years before Europe.And we humans are extremely adaptable to harsh environments. It's Clarkson that's the silly ass.

lol Yep, opinion. Until one can produce definitive evidence of gods, they remain "ifs and maybes".

AnnaEmber

+2

#24

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by Blackleaf

Humanity started off in Europe, not Africa as is commonly believed.

Opinion. lol

taxslave

+1

#25

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by petros

Happened to me. Fight the fire or sit in the pokey until it's out. All I did was keep a pump running for 3 days. I did get paid tho.

How long ago and where? It would have been mid 90s in BC that the MoF told us loggers that we had to have SP100 or we couldn't fight fires in our own setting even. The general concenses make sure the equipment is insured and let her rip.

taxslave

+2

#26

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnaEmber

Opinion. lol

And a wrong one at that. But you are talking to the guy that thinks the telephone was invented in England before Mr.Bell was born.

AnnaEmber

+1

#27

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by taxslave

And a wrong one at that. But you are talking to the guy that thinks the telephone was invented in England before Mr.Bell was born.

lmao You're kidding? Well, he wouldn't be the first dude that wanted to rewrite history to fit his bias. But I think the first working voice communiction device was from Antonio Muecci (sp?) in Italy, but Bell had the first patented one.

petros

+1

#28

Re: Winds fan ferocious fires in Australia's most populous state

Jan 5th, 2020

Quote: Originally Posted by taxslave

How long ago and where? It would have been mid 90s in BC that the MoF told us loggers that we had to have SP100 or we couldn't fight fires in our own setting even. The general concenses make sure the equipment is insured and let her rip.

Sometime between 86 to 91 near Trail or Castlegar. Made hundreds of trips back and forth between SK and BC I can't remember which year.